20th century Lennar dates back to F&R Builders, a company founded in 1954 by Gene Fisher and real estate developer Arnold P. Rosen. In 1956, Leonard M. Miller, who later became the namesake of the
Miller School of Medicine at the
University of Miami, a 23-year-old entrepreneur that owned 42 lots in
Miami-Dade County, Florida, invested $10,000 and partnered with the company. In 1969, Lennar reached an equity base of $1 million, and by 1971, Miller and Rosen changed the name to Lennar Corporation. Lennar acquired H. Miller & Sons in 1984 for $24 million. In January 1989, the company acquired Richmond American Homes of Florida for $18 million. In February 1992, the company acquired Amerifirst's $1 billion real estate portfolio in a
joint venture with
Morgan Stanley. In October 1992, following
Hurricane Andrew, the company faced several lawsuits from homeowners alleging careless building quality. In July 1993, the company formed a joint venture with
Westinghouse Electric Corporation and
Lehman Brothers to acquire a $2 billion face-value loan portfolio from
Westinghouse Electric Corporation for $1.1 billion. In 1995, the company acquired
Friendswood Development Company from
Exxon, and acquired California company Bramalea. In 1997, Stuart Miller, the son of co-founder Leonard Miller, became CEO of the company. Leonard Miller died in 2002. Stuart Miller served as Lennar's CEO until 2018 when he pivoted to an executive chairman position. As Lennar CEO, Stuart Miller is credited for navigating the company through the
US housing crisis from 2007 to 2010. In 1997, the company acquired West Venture Homes. The following year the company acquired Eagle Home Mortgage and Souththeyst Land Title. which resulted in the company doubling in size. In 2002, the company acquired Patriot Homes based in
Columbia, Maryland, Barry Andrews Homes in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as Don Galloway Homes, The Genesee Company, Cambridge Homes, and Sunstar Communities. The company then acquired on
Mare Island, in a closed Navy base, for redevelopment. In 2003, Lennar acquired Coleman Homes. The company also acquired the assets of Queens Properties for $33.8 million, in addition to Connel-Barron Homes and Classic American Homes. In 2006, Lennar spun off its commercial servicing division, LNR Property Corporation, which was acquired by
Starwood Capital Group in 2012. In November 2006, Lennar chairman Robert J. Strudler died. In December 2007, during the
subprime mortgage crisis, the company sold an 80% interest in 11,000 properties for 40% of their previously stated book value to
Morgan Stanley. In 2007, Lennar founded Rialto Capital Management, which was originated to acquire distressed real estate and mortgage debt. In 2008 and 2009, former businessman and convicted felon
Barry Minkow engaged in an extortion scheme, spreading false information about the company that resulted in its stock price falling 26% in one day. Minkow was sentenced to 5 years in prison and was ordered to pay $584 million in restitution.
San Diego real estate developer Nicolas Marsch III hired Minkow to back his claims that Lennar cheated Marsch out of millions of dollars on a private golf community. In February 2017, the company acquired WCI Communities, which operated in Florida, for $643 million. In 2018,
Burger King moved into a new headquarters down the street from its old one, and Lennar moved into Burger King's former headquarters in the Waterford District near
Miami International Airport. In February 2018, the company acquired
CalAtlantic Homes. The same year, Lennar developed a venture capital arm, Lennar Ventures, dubbed LenX. In 2021, LenX announced strategic partnerships with companies ICON and
Veev. With
Veev's collapse in 2023, LenX acquired the company. In November 2024, Lennar acquired
Arkansas based builder Rausch Coleman Homes. With this acquisition, Lennar entered the
Birmingham,
Kansas City,
Little Rock,
Northwest Arkansas,
Tulsa and
Tuscaloosa markets. In addition, it expanded its presence in
Houston,
Huntsville,
Northwest Florida,
Oklahoma City and
San Antonio. In February 2025, Lennar spun off Millrose Properties, Inc., a "first-of-its-kind" homesite option purchase platform. Millrose became an independent publicly traded company and began trading on the
NYSE under the symbol "." ==Corporate affairs==